


Fun in the Fade

by laveIIans



Series: Sera and Nehna Against Thedas [2]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Dreams, Established Relationship, F/F, Fade Date, Fade Dreams, Fade Kiss, Fade Romance, Fade Shenanigans, Ficlets, Fluff, Freeform Magic, In the Fade, Magic, Romantic Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-03
Updated: 2018-06-03
Packaged: 2019-05-17 00:45:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14822010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laveIIans/pseuds/laveIIans
Summary: Nehna dreams of a quiet, romantic moment with her lover, and takes the opportunity to impress her by showing off her magical talents at the same time. Fluffy Fade shenanigans ensue.





	Fun in the Fade

"Come,  _vhenan_. Follow me." Nehna took her lover's hand and eagerly led her through the grass. It grew tall, reaching their waists, and Nehna ran through it, giggling as Sera stumbled after her. "We'll be there soon."

Sera took in the sight of the flowers as they blurred past them. There were deep red roses, ambrosia, lilies, pink camellia and daisies growing close together, along with wildflowers and other plants she could not name. _She could, probably. She knows_ everything _that grows under the sun_ , Sera thought admiringly. "Where are you taking me, anyway?"

"You'll see, _vhenan_. It'll be worth it," was all the answer she got before Nehna turned back and ran harder. Sera muffled a curse and followed her lover; was this supposed to be a romantic adventure or an exercise session, anyway? If so, she could be sparring much more happily with Iron Bull... or  _Cassandra_ , for that matter. That woman was a one-lady battering ram of sheer will encased in iron and steel, and Sera didn't envy those training dummies one bit.

Eventually, she saw a leafy grove emerge in the distance. There was a clear blue pool surrounded by weeping willows whose branches all but hid it from plain sight, and it looked calm and serene. _This must be the place_ , she thought, and clearly Nehna agreed; her lover pointed eagerly and whooped.

" _There_!" she squeaked. "Just a little further along, now..."

This had to be some kind of trick, Sera mused aloud. It looked a lot further away than it was, but they reached it soon enough. Nehna dropped to her knees, laying out a comfy knitted blanket that she thought into existence, and nudged beside her for Sera to join her. Her lover did after a moment, resting her head against the mage's shoulder.

"It's so quiet here," she said. "All peaceful." The water was still, scarcely moving, and so clear that the two women could see all the way to the bottom. It wasn't too deep, either; around waist height by Sera's reckoning. And all around them a crop of beautiful flowers were growing here and there, some closer to the water's edge than others. They were colourful and delicate looking, and she longed to reach out and stroke them.

" _Here_." Sheepishly, Nehna reached behind her and produced a bouquet. At Sera's surprised expression, she explained, "I can do almost anything I like in the Fade, so long as I don't... well, I don't know, _destroy_ it, or -" 

"The Fade?" Sera raised an eyebrow. This all felt so  _real_. She could feel the cool breeze at her neck, lingering like a touch from Nehna's fingertips, and she could smell the sweet fragrances from the flowers. 

"We're dreaming,  _vhenan_ ," Nehna told her with a soft smile, adding teasingly, "Did you think anything could be this perfect in the waking world? I admit that I based it  _a little_ on my memories, but I think the Fade put its own spin on it too, really."

For a moment, her lover stiffened next to her, eyes narrowing as she weighed up her thoughts. Then she set them aside and relaxed, nudging Nehna with a goofy grin. "See?" Sera smiled. "There you go again. You're  _definitely_ at home with all this Fade shite, aren't you? Knowing all this stuff immediately."

"Solas helped teach me how to recognise the signs," Nehna admitted quietly. "I would never known by myself otherwise, and he -"

Sera made a face and groaned. "Eurrgh, don't mention Droopy here. You'll summon him and ruin the atmosphere. I'll go and drown myself in the pool if  _he_ shows up." 

" _Sera_." Nehna tried to hide her giggling behind her hand, but it didn't quite work. "That's a little mean, don't you think?"

"Mean?  _Me?_ No, what's  _mean_ is having to put up with him day in, day out. What's  _mean_ is the way he tries to be above it all, walking around like he knows everything about everything and trying to make me feel dumb because I couldn't give a rat's fart about a bunch of stuff from thousands of years ago. They're all dead now, and we're alive, and we're  _different_. Stuff happens, things change, and people move on." She shook her head, sighing. "Please, love, don't make me think about him when I'm with you. It makes my blood boil up."

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Sera. Won't happen again."

 

* * *

 

The two women sat together in companionable silence for a while before Sera broke it with a chuckle. "Hey, Nehna?" She lay her head in Nehna's lap. "You know you said stuff isn't perfect in the waking world?"

"Well, that's not _quite_ what I said."

"Oh, shove it. Anyway, I'm trying to be romantic. Don't get all fussed about words, silly." Sera reached up to tickle her lover's chin, grinning when Nehna laughed. "Was just going to say that being with you _is_ perfect. Even if it's dreams I won't remember when I wake up. But the waking moments are _really_ good too, you know."

"Are you getting all sentimental on me, _vhenan_?" Nehna rustled her lover's hair. "And here I thought you were the one criticising me for being, and I quote from memory here, _soppier than a ruddy Orlesian_."

"Yeah? Well, I felt like it. The view gave me warm, fuzzy feelings."  

" _Hey_." Nehna tried hard to hide the flush creeping up her neck, but Sera wasn't fooled. "You're just trying to make me blush, aren't you?"

Sera slid a stalk into her mouth and chewed, humming noncommittally. "Might be. Might not. Can't deny I like the result though." She winked. "Red suits you, love."

"Remind me why I agreed to go out with you again?"

"You couldn't resist my roguish charms. Or my amazing sense of humour." Sera flexed her arm for her lover's benefit. "Or my muscles, even. Got there from hard work and practice, they did, and anyone who says I didn't put the work in is lying to themselves. I mean, I didn't have to _think_ the way they all did, but still."

Nehna gave her a half-exasperated sigh, but she had an amused expression. "Roguish  _charms_? And here I thought it was your way with four-letter words and your crude yet grounded worldview. Oh, and an irresistible urge to spit a double entendre in every sentence," she chuckled.

Sera screwed up her face. "Double what?"

Nehna shook her head, bending over to kiss Sera's nose. "Don't worry,  _vhenan_. Just teasing you." Her lover's hair got another quick ruffle. "You know you love me for it."

"Do I?" Sera grunted. "Maybe I just put up with you for the adventures and free booze. Oh, and the sex," she added, flashing her lover a wicked smile.

Nehna laughed. "I won't fall for that, Sera. Not those wicked words. You can tease me all you like, but this is  _my_ dream." She paused, growing more serious. "You're not even really here with me. I'm just imagining this whole thing."

"So?" Her lover propped herself up on her elbow and looked up into Nehna's eyes. "So what if none of this is real, or I'm not here, or you'll just forget it in the morning? It's real right now, isn't it? And I'm here, too."

"You're right." Nehna gave Sera a soft, loving smile. "You always are." Sera stuck her tongue out. "We can just enjoy this time together then,  no matter what." 

"Now you're talking." Sera returned her smile, gently pulling Nehna closer until their lips were inches away from each other. "Best get started on that, right?" With a little extra pressure, she pulled her lover down for a kiss.

 

* * *

 

"So, what's this pool about, then?" Sera asked, giving Nehna's hand a squeeze. "What's the memory around it?"

The two women had moved closer to the bank, rolling their breeches up to dip their feet in and sighing with pleasure at the gentle feel of the cool water around them.

"Well, when we were still in a forest with my clan in the Free Marches, I came across this little grove," Nehna explained. "I've forgotten what city it was," she added apologetically. "The forest was in the outskirts, and I wasn't really thinking about... well, shem stuff, I guess. That day, I was being tutored by Keeper Deshanna on Elvhen writing. And magic, too, actually, now I come to think of it." Nehna paused. "That whole day was just lots of lessons on _everything_ , really." 

"So how did you manage to get here? Don't tell me you sneaked away," Sera teased. When her lover nodded bashfully, her mouth fell wide open in shock. " _You_?" 

"Me," Nehna giggled.

"But you're the most studious person I know! If someone gave you a library you'd waste away in there reading every last page until your eyes rotted out of your skull and you just keeled over. Don't get me wrong, love," she added hastily, "it's very impressive and all. Natural focus and all that. You're smart as... as...." Sera paused, searching for a suitable comparison before sighing. 

"See, don't tell him I said this," she said, voice lowering in a conspiratorial whisper and rolling her eyes to show her disdain, "but you're as smart as  _Solas_. See, I said it. I called him  _smart_. He'd wet himself or something if I said that to his face, I bet."

" _Vhenan_ ," Nehna chuckled, shaking her head. "That's very sweet of you, but I thought you wanted to keep talk of, uh, _him_ to a minimum."

" _Rats_." Sera scowled. "I did, didn't I? Broke my own bloody rule." Then she broke out laughing. "Alright, alright, so I lost. Don't rub it in, love, but I guess you can... I don't know... find a punishment?"

"A _punishment_?" Nehna rested her chin in her hands and thought for a moment. "Alright, dive in the pool and stay there for thirty seconds."

" _Thirty_? Come on, Inky, give me a _real_ punishment."

"Dive in there or I'll make it an hour!" Nehna teased.

"Alright, alright. Keep your hair on, yeah?" Sera shook her head. " _Loony_ , you are." She looked over her shoulder. "In clothes then or what?"

Nehna blushed. " _Clothes_ , please." She had had dreams of the two of them wearing considerably less and doing things far more salacious, but she felt too embarrassed to nudge her current dream in that particular direction, and she didn't want the spirits to witness her lover in that state, either. Besides, just a bit of mucking around was perfectly fine every once in a while, too. 'Tumbling,' as Sera so eloquently liked to call it, wasn't the _only_ thing the Inquisitor particularly enjoyed, even if her lover was convinced otherwise. 

"Suit yourself, love." Sera waggled her tongue back at her.

"On the count of three, then?" When her lover nodded, she began the countdown as Sera moved backwards: "Three! Two!"

Just as she said "One!", Sera made a running leap and dove deep, landing with a big splash in the middle of the pool. As she surfaced, shaking her head, water arced off her in little droplets, and her hair was plastered to her neck. 

" _Fuck_!" the elf squealed, beginning a long litany of curses as she shivered. "It's colder than the Maker's balls, I swear."

Nehna couldn't resist the urge to laugh as her lover slowly swam back, muttering irritably all the way. "Need a hand,  _vhenan_?" She pulled Sera out of the water but lost her step, toppling beneath her. Her lover yelped, struggling to pull herself off Nehna's chest, but her soaking clothes left her uncomfortably stuck.

"I think I may have a solution. Hold still, Sera," Nehna smiled, giving her cheek a kiss as she raised her hands. Sweltering heat emerged between her fingers, and she arced it over her lover's body, watching the water evaporate off their bodies in seconds. Moments later, her lover was fully dry, yet she seemed reluctant to remove herself from their clumsy embrace; instead, Sera giggled, shaking her head.

"Who knew magic could be so  _useful_? Honestly, I forget you're all magical and elfy sometimes, and then you conjure fire out of thin air and it just makes me all... all..." She made an exaggerated surprised face, which soon dissolved into a grin as her lover smiled.

"You think that's all I'm capable of,  _vhenan_?" she teased, raising her brow as she slowly got to her feet, pulling Sera up after her. "Watch this." She reached out, pulling with her mind. " _Water flows through my body, and water flows before me. You answer to me, now. Rise_." 

Achingly slowly, a perfectly round ball of water rose from the centre of the pool into the air, casting rainbows of light onto the two women's faces. Nehna turned over to Sera with a wink, checking if her lover was appropriately impressed or not.

Sera's jaw may as well have hit the floor. She pointed to the ball, making little gasps of noise, and her mouth formed a perfect O as she struggled to find words.

"I don't know if I'd be able to do this all that well if I was  _awake_ , mind you," Nehna said sheepishly, "or maybe even at all." Then she grinned. "So, what do you think,  _vhenan_? Do you reckon Corypheus might just turn tail and run if I make enough bubbles for him? He might even  _thank_ me for my efforts, but I don't really expect manners from one of the darkspawn. He wasn't polite enough to die when he should have done, anyway, so anything more might be beyond him, I suppose." She shrugged nonchalantly, as if her great adversary was nothing more than a mere inconvenience.

Sera laughed at that. "Well, if he wasn't shocked by your talents - which he _should_ be - then your words would cut him like razors," she assured her. "You're only the best mage in Thedas, anyway."

"Don't get cocky with me," Nehna teased, pulling the ball until it floated over Sera's head, making her gulp. "Otherwise...  _poof_." She wiggled her fingers as the other woman shook her head, half-exasperated. "Besides, Vivienne, Solas and Dorian might get offended if you said that."

"They don't count, do they? Because they're not you." Sera kissed her check. "They're not my Inky. Finest woman in Thedas, you are. Nobody else compares, so they shouldn't bother trying."

Nehna blushed, trying to turn away to hide her embarrassment, but her lover slid her hands around her neck and smiled. "Don't even try denying it. You may have a honey tongue, but I get inspired every now and again," Sera teased before pulling her in for a kiss. 

 

* * *

 

Nehna could half remember the feel of Sera's soft, warm lips on hers when she woke up, smiling. She rolled on to her side, seeing her lover lying next to her, and slid an arm around her gently as she kissed Sera's forehead, applying a touch of frost magic to help cool her down and remove the thin sheen of sweat. Then Nehna slid out from the bed oh so slowly, mindful of the fact the other woman was still fast asleep and reluctant to disturb her slumber. With one last look over her shoulder, she smiled and made her way to the bathroom, ready to wash and prepare for a gruelling day. Still, she had the fleeting remnants of her dream to comfort her, Nehna reminded herself, smiling as she heard her lover yawn and stretch with a groan.  _Who said the waking world can't be perfect?_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> So in _The Masked Empire_ , Lienne uses verbal magic. It's not something we've ever really seen in the games, so I wanted to just experiment with that a little bit here. I also took liberties with what mages have been demonstrated to be capable of, and what Nehna can be capable of here... because who wants cold logic on a date? (No, not even _[him](https://media.giphy.com/media/5W4YQ1O0ZCD7i/giphy.gif)_.)


End file.
